PC streamer.

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pre65
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#1 PC streamer.

Post by pre65 »

Are there any PC programmes that give Squeezebox like streaming facilities ?

And would a solid state hard drive likely be more long lasting than a conventional one ?

Not that I'm going that way of course. :lol:
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The Stratmangler
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#2

Post by The Stratmangler »

What are you thinking of doing Phil?
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pre65
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#3

Post by pre65 »

The Stratmangler wrote:What are you thinking of doing Phil?
Well Chris, I wos thinking of using a quiet PC (an old Shuttle perhaps) as a device to rip and store digital music files.

But I don't really want to purchase a Sonos, Squeezebox or similar streamer.

I suppose Foobar woulddo for playing FLAC files but I wondered if there were any PC programmes that had Squeezebox like facilities.
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#4

Post by The Stratmangler »

You could always run Squeezebox Server on a remote machine, and use Squeezeplay on another (as DtB does when he's sniffing hot solder fumes), but that is probably overcomplicating things.

If the machine is local to your system then almost any media player would do.
I like and use Foobar - it's a very flexible program, and has lots of useful plugin features, and best of all is the cost - it's free.
It's also possible to remote control Foobar with a Smartphone app, although you'd have to play around with network settings to get it to work.

Winamp is good, as is Media Monkey.
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#5

Post by floppybootstomp »

Just talking about hard drives, the recent floods in Thailand and surrounding areas impacted on the factories that make hard disks and as a result prices for mechanical hard drives have recently sky-rocketed, a 1Tb HDD costing aroiund £45 six months ago is now costing around £110.

As for SSD devices, in theory as there are no moving parts they should outlast mechanical storage devices but they haven't really been in widespread use long enough for any mainstream observations to have been made.

SSD drives can and will fail though, apparently, there's only so many times you change a piece of silicon from 0 to 1 and vice versa.

Currently for around £120 you can choose between 1Tb of mechanical storage or 128Gb of solid state storage so not really economical at this time.

I've been using a 128Gb SSD drive in my main computer since September primarily just for the OS and a few bits of software such as Office, Winamp, Photoshop etc and it's been good and fast. Prior to that though I was using a pair of WD Velicoraptor 150Gb HDD's in a RAID 0 setup and tbh there's very little difference in speed although I think the SSD just has the edge.

I've been using Winamp for around 15 years now for Audio, I like it a lot, have tried many others but have always come back to Winamp. I hear good things about Media Monkey but have yet to try it.

On the subject of Media Monkey, it used to be compatible with Ipods so I-Tunes didn't have to be used if you used Media Monkey but Apple cottoned on and now latest Ipod firmware makes it impossible to use your Apple Ipod with Media Monkey (or so I have read).

Just by way of information ;)
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#6 Re: PC streamer.

Post by Mike H »

pre65 wrote:Are there any PC programmes that give Squeezebox like streaming facilities ?
iTunes. Don't remember it costing me anything to install, well I suppose not 'cause you can buy music off their store after you've registered. But the point is it will also play anyfink stored on your PC (assuming it recognises the file type, WAV is OK) and you can make play lists for whatever.
 
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#7 Re: PC streamer.

Post by Cressy Snr »

Mike H wrote:
pre65 wrote:Are there any PC programmes that give Squeezebox like streaming facilities ?
iTunes. Don't remember it costing me anything to install, well I suppose not 'cause you can buy music off their store after you've registered. But the point is it will also play anyfink stored on your PC (assuming it recognises the file type, WAV is OK) and you can make play lists for whatever.
Ah yes good old iTunes.
I use it with my squeezebox touch.
The SB uses the iTunes music folder and imports its contents into its own database.

The significance of fact that The SB does not use the iTunes folder direct and and instead uses said folder it to create its own music database is quite often lost on its detractors.
I won't use iTunes cos it does not support FLAC is the oft heard reason for iTunes refuseniks, but.......
You see, all you have to do is drop your FLAC files in the iTunes folder and although iTunes itself won't recognise them via your PC or Mac, the SB catalogues and displays them in its own database, meaning that your FLAC files will play
with no problems through your hi-fi, even though iTunes does not "officially" support them. I also suspect that Twonky or whatever other software will do the same.

However simply ripping to Apple Lossless will fulfil the same function as FLAC if you want to use iTunes as your primary music database.
There are plenty of products for the PC that will convert FLAC to ALAC.

The fact that iTunes is a doddle to use, will import your CDs in their native AIFF format and has a huge library of stuff you can download is the icing on the cake.

Unless you want your CDs ripped with CD paranoia or exact audio software
the average user would be daft not to use iTunes TBH. As Mike says it's a mature product and is a free download.

Steve
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#8

Post by Cressy Snr »

Now then Phil

I have an AppleTV doing nothing at the moment if you want to try it out.

Running iTunes on your PC and connecting with an Ethernet cable, plus an HDMI cable to your TV and an optical cable to a DAC and you're all set
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#9

Post by ed »

I thought the question was about programmes that 'stream' music on the network.........I may have misunderstood but in my mind this is completely different to playing music......

was the op about software that puts music on the network when a client asks for it...(cursed french keyboard, cant find the question mark...please assume it"s there)
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#10 Re: PC streamer.

Post by Neal »

pre65 wrote:Are there any PC programmes that give Squeezebox like streaming facilities ?

And would a solid state hard drive likely be more long lasting than a conventional one ?

Not that I'm going that way of course. :lol:
As mentioned in another thread:

http://xbmc.org/about/
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#11

Post by floppybootstomp »

ed wrote:I thought the question was about programmes that 'stream' music on the network.........I may have misunderstood but in my mind this is completely different to playing music......

was the op about software that puts music on the network when a client asks for it...(cursed french keyboard, cant find the question mark...please assume it"s there)
Aye, you're right. With my last post I had intended just to address the latter half of the original enquiry (hard disks) but must confess I went off on a tangent by saying I liked Winamp.

I will comment on I-Tunes though, please allow a little artistic licence ;) My comment? I-Tunes is crap. There, I've said it. I have two I-Pods and started to use Itunes in March 2006 and wasn't impressed from the off.

At one stage used Winamp with Ipods but that's flakey to say the least, when used with Ipods & Iphones. So this year I returned to Itunes thinking they may have improved it. I was wrong, it's still crap. I could justify my opinion but not in this thread, wouldn't be right.

As for XBMC, that certainly looks to be the biz, going to try that in Mint 12 right now and if I like it I'll put it on Media machine where it may very well become a stayer.

It's probably also worth mentioning that Windows 7 has Media Streaming capability built in which is effectively free if you're using Win 7 or want to spend around £70 to upgrade to Win 7 Home Premium (64 Bit preferred).

And IMHO Win 7 is good.
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#12

Post by Dave the bass »

floppybootstomp wrote:Just talking about hard drives, the recent floods in Thailand and surrounding areas impacted on the factories that make hard disks and as a result prices for mechanical hard drives have recently sky-rocketed, a 1Tb HDD costing aroiund £45 six months ago is now costing around £110.
Aye, I remembered you mentioned this at pre-gig refreshments. The price seems to have come down a bit in the high street shops IME. I got a 2TB USB HDD for £89 from Comet the other day. Its a WD Elements, seems OK. Got another WD 2TB USB HDD via eBay for £33 on the way to back up the back up the back ups.... can't have too many back up's can ye? :-)

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#13

Post by Cressy Snr »

floppybootstomp wrote:
I will comment on I-Tunes though, please allow a little artistic licence ;) My comment? I-Tunes is crap.


Must be it's Apple

floppybootstomp wrote:And IMHO Win 7 is good..
Can't be it's Windows
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#14

Post by pre65 »

SteveTheShadow wrote:Now then Phil

I have an AppleTV doing nothing at the moment if you want to try it out.

Running iTunes on your PC and connecting with an Ethernet cable, plus an HDMI cable to your TV and an optical cable to a DAC and you're all set
Thanks for the offer Steve but I will pass on it. :)
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#15

Post by Neal »

I found iTunes a PIA on XP but its perfectly fine on my Mac with Snow Leopard ;)
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